Faithlife Study Bible

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About Faithlife Study Bible

Access powerful Bible study tools and a theological library for biblical insights on the go. With the Logos mobile app, you can read the Bible and commentaries side by side, save books for studying offline, and use exclusive Logos Bible study tools.

Make Time for Reading, Even When You’re Booked

Organize and schedule your reading in seconds. Create a list of books in your library, then start a reading plan when you’re ready to dig in.

Access All Your Bible Study Tools in One Location

Tap a word or passage to highlight, leave a note, open Bible Word Study, and more, all with the enhanced text selection menu.

Find What You’re Looking for, Instantly

Access powerful search features from any book or resource. Quickly navigate to any verse in the Bible or search your library to go deeper.

Never Lose Your Audience—or Your Place

Easily read your sermon outline or manuscript, get a clear view of all your slides, and see a built-in timer to help you stay on track with Preaching Mode.

Read your favorite Bible translations: we have a variety of options, including the NIV, ESV, NASB, NKJV, and many more.

TOP FEATURES:

LIBRARY - Instantly access up to ninety-five free resources to kick off your Bible study. Or sync your current Logos library to access all your books on the go.

PANEL LINKING - Get three independent channels for linking your resources so they track along with you as you read.

LAYOUTS FOR iPAD - Simultaneously use up to six books and/or tools on a single screen with Layouts on your tablet.

REFERENCE SCANNER - Take a picture of a church bulletin or handout using Reference Scanner and the app will open your preferred Bible version to all the verse references.

PASSAGE LIST - Use Reference Scanner to snap a picture of a document and look up many verses at once, then save those verses as a Passage List.

BIBLE WORD STUDY - Learn more about any word in the Bible by examining dictionaries, lexicons, and cross-references.

PASSAGE GUIDE - Get a detailed, verse-specific report that includes Bible commentaries, cross-references, literary typing, and media resources.

TEXT COMPARISON - Compare any verse across multiple translations with visual and percentage indicators of difference.

TABBED BROWSING - Open as many resources or Bibles as you want and view them side by side.

SPLIT SCREEN - Delve into any secondary resource side by side with your preferred Bible translation.

SEARCH - Find every mention of a word or phrase in every resource in your library.

READING PLANS - Get into daily reading with several Bible reading plans to choose from.

This app contains optional subscriptions called the Bible Study Bundle and Faithlife Connect Mobile.

Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least twenty-four hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within twenty-four hours prior to the end of the current period and will identify the cost of renewal. Subscriptions may be managed by you and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase.

Privacy policy: https://www.logos.com/privacy

EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Version

App Information

The heavyweight that forgot how to be simple

Been using Bible apps since my Palm Pilot days (yeah, I'm that old). When Faithlife Study Bible promised "seminary-level study tools" on my iPhone, I was intrigued. After six weeks of daily use, I can tell you this: it's like bringing a bazooka to a water gun fight. Impressive? Absolutely. Necessary? That depends.

First things first - this app is actually Logos Bible Software wearing a different hat. Same company, same backend, slightly different packaging. The 244MB download should've been my first warning that this wasn't your average devotional app.

My month-long seminary education

Week one was brutal. Opening the app felt like walking into a theological library where every book fell off the shelf at once. Four quadrants greeted me: Bible passages, reading plans, Faithlife Communities, and notifications. Just finding where to actually read the Bible took 10 minutes.

Finally got into Genesis. Tapped a verse expecting maybe a note or two. Instead? A cascade of options: commentaries, cross-references, word studies, passage guides, text comparisons. My iPhone 13 actually stuttered. This app doesn't mess around.

The dual-pane view is genuinely brilliant though. Bible text on top, commentary below. Adjustable split. Reading through Matthew while having study notes scroll alongside? Chef's kiss. Until you accidentally close the split view and spend 5 minutes figuring out how to restore it. There's no obvious button - you have to "undo" the action. Who designed this?

Week two introduced me to the Lexham Bible Dictionary. Tapped on "Pharisees" and got a doctoral thesis. Not kidding - 2,800+ articles in this thing. The depth is staggering. Cross-linked everything. Touch any scripture reference and a floating preview appears. This alone justifies the download.

Then I discovered the catch. Want NIV? That'll be $29.99. ESV? Another $24.99. NASB? $19.99. The free Lexham English Bible is... fine. But nobody uses it in church. Suddenly that "free" app starts feeling expensive.

Week three, tried the infographics everyone raves about. They look gorgeous in thumbnails. Zoom in on my phone? Blurry mess. Apparently this is a "known issue" they've been "working on" for years. How is this still broken?

Started using it for actual Bible study prep by week four. The Passage Guide is legitimately incredible. Type "Romans 8:28" and get: 15 commentaries, every cross-reference imaginable, Greek word analysis, theological themes, related media. It's overwhelming and amazing simultaneously.

The Reference Scanner blew my mind. Take a photo of your church bulletin, and it automatically opens every Bible reference mentioned. Worked 8 out of 10 times. When it works, you feel like you're living in the future.

Week five brought the crash parade. App froze three times while switching between resources. Lost notes twice. The sync between devices? Spotty at best. My iPad showed different highlights than my iPhone despite being logged into the same account. Customer support suggested "trying a full reinstall." Classic.

Final week, I attempted the social features. Faithlife Communities is basically Facebook for Bible nerds. Posted a note about a passage, got zero engagement. The community feels like a ghost town. Maybe everyone's too busy trying to figure out the interface.

The pros and cons

How it competes

What reddit doesn't want to admit

Users report glitches where they "cannot sign out and the link to report a problem isn't working." Faithlife Study Bible on the App Store This tracks with my experience. The app feels perpetually in beta.

Seminary Facebook groups worship this app but always with caveats. "Amazing resources but..." is the recurring theme. One professor called it "indispensable and insufferable."

ChurchTechToday notes that "If you copy a range of verses it inexplicably won't copy the verse numbers on Android devices or the reference in either Android or iPhone." Logos Bible App [Review] - ChurchTechToday.com | Resources For Today's Church Pastor And Church Tech Teams This basic feature failure in 2024 is embarrassing.

App Store reviews average 4.84 from nearly 14,000 users, but read the recent ones. Longtime users hate the interface changes. One frustrated user writes "I was blindsided from one day to the next when I opened the app and found... I am now ignorant on how to get from one aspect of the program to another." Logos: Deep Bible Study - App Store

Think Biblically observes that "As a pastor, Faithlife Study Bible isn't going to provide all the tools you need for quality sermon preparation." Review - Faithlife Study Bible - Think Biblically Ironic, given the marketing.

The real verdict

Here's the truth: if you're a seminary student, pastor, or serious Bible scholar who already uses Logos desktop, this app is mandatory. The mobile access to your library alone justifies dealing with the quirks.

For everyone else? It's overkill. As Rachel Wojo notes about Logos: "The Greek and Hebrew word comparison in the Logos app is really fabulous for in-depth Bible study." Best Features of the Top Bible Apps - Rachel Wojo But do you need that for morning devotions? Probably not.

YouVersion remains the people's champion for a reason. Simple, free, works. Blue Letter Bible offers similar depth with less complexity (and less cost). Olive Tree strikes the best balance between features and usability.

I'm keeping Faithlife installed but relegated to "serious study" folder. For daily reading? YouVersion. For word studies? Blue Letter Bible. For showing off to my Bible study group? Faithlife every time.

The potential here is enormous. With a interface redesign and better stability, this could dominate. But after six weeks, I'm exhausted. Sometimes you just want to read the Bible without needing a seminary degree to navigate the app.

Would I recommend it? If you're willing to invest time (weeks) and money (hundreds potentially), absolutely. If you just want a solid Bible app? Look elsewhere. This is a power tool in a world where most people need a screwdriver.